First Italian Woman in Space Is About to Break Two Spaceflight Records

It may be Samantha Cristoforetti's first time in space, but she's not wasting any time in leaving her mark. Her first mission, which began last November, is historic in itself by virtue of making her the first Italian woman in space, and now an extension of her mission will allow her to break two more spaceflight records.

Cristoforetti launched into space on November 23, 2014, docking onto the ISS approximately six hours later. She was originally scheduled to spend 170-171 days in space, landing between May 13-14. But then, the failure and crash landing of Russia's Progress spacecraft caused her mission to be extended for 30 days, or until June 11-13.

As a result, her 199-201 days in space will allow her to hold the new records for most time spent in space for an Italian astronaut and longest space mission for a woman ever. As of now, Paolo Nespoli holds the former record, with 174 days in space on two separate missions, while Sunita Williams holds the latter record, with 195 days in space during a 2006-2007 mission. Williams won't be knocked off the board completely, however, as she will still hold the record for most spacewalk time for a female astronaut (50 hours, 40 minutes).

Incidentally, Cristoforetti also recently became the first astronaut to go out of her way to explain space toilets to us lowly Earthlings: